Trick or Treat
by MistyMountainHop
Summary: Kelso invites his single friends to his brother's Halloween party. Casey's Monster Make-Out Mash-Ups are renowned for encouraging commitment-free flings. Fresh from a break-up — and pining over Kelso's girl — Hyde needs some naughty-bad fun. But Jackie is far from happy herself, despite being one-half of the only couple left in the basement.
1. Part 1

**Disclaimer:** _That '70s Show_ copyright The Carsey-Werner Company, LLC and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC.

 **~TRICK OR TREAT~  
PART 1**

Kelso shoved the invitation into Hyde's hand. Hyde was the last in the basement to get one, but his friends' cheek-scratching and wrinkled foreheads did not bode well. Kelso had started with Fez at the lawn chair, gone to the couch and tossed an invite each at Forman and Donna, but he'd skipped over Jackie. She probably already had one, seeing as she was Kelso's girl.

Hyde read over the invite. It resembled the Frankenstein monster's head—green, rectangular, and with paper electrodes jutting from the bottom—and it said:

 **MONSTER MAKE-OUT MASH-UP**  
 **DATE:** October 28  
 **TIME:** 9:00 pm-?  
 **PLACE:** Kelso Residence. You know where it is. If you don't, you stole this invite.  
 **ADMISSION:** $1.50  
 **DRESS-CODE:** Costume not optional. Mask strongly encouraged.

"Kelso, what the hell is this?" Hyde said. "A Halloween party?"

"No, not just any Halloween party," Kelso said. He moved in front of the TV, blocking Chrissy Snow and Janet Wood's racks from view. Hyde tried to see past him, but it was futile. Kelso reached back and shut the TV off. "It's a _Casey Kelso_ Halloween party."

"Isn't Casey in the army?" Forman said.

" _Was._ He's out—and he's back!" Kelso laughed and thrust his fists into the air, as if he held the secrets of the cosmos. "Man, you guys don't know how lucky you are to have me as a friend. Casey used to throw these parties when he was in high school. They're crazy. He tried to keep me out of them, but I snuck into one once. Yeah, I had my first make-out during it."

Jackie pushed herself off the couch and charged toward him, her knee-high boots clomping on the cement floor. "What do you mean you had your first make-out during it, Michael?" Kelso's promise ring gleamed on her finger as she jabbed his chest. "I thought I was your first kiss."

"Oh, you were, baby!" He clasped her shoulder, but she glanced back at Hyde, like she regularly did when Kelso said something stupid. "The first kiss that meant anything. I was twelve when that other kiss happened—"

"You said it was a make-out," Fez said from the lawn chair. He was fanning himself with the invite. "But according to Jackie, you didn't use your tongue well until after I kissed her, and she taught you a few things. So how could you have made-out at twelve?" He tilted his head to the side and stroked his chin. "It is quite the mystery … unless by _make-out,_ you mean a bunch of bad kisses following one another."

Kelso marched to him and snatched the invite from his hands. "That's it. You're not going."

"Neither am I," Forman said. "Not unless you tell me what _Monster Make-Out Mash-Up_ means."

"Okay, so this party's for singles only," Kelso said. "You gotta wear a costume with a mask. No one's supposed to know who anyone else is. At some point, you'll get grabbed, thrown into a dark closet with a chick, and you'll get to make-out commitment-free." He grinned, wide enough to crinkle his eyes. "Multiple make-outs with college-age girls, Eric. All hot 'cause Casey doesn't invite uggos."

Hyde struck the invite against his thigh. "How'll we know they're hot, man? They're all gonna be wearin' masks."

"Trust me. I've seen the chicks Casey pals around with."

"Doesn't Casey, like, hate you?" Donna said and held up her invite. "How did you get these?"

"How do you think?" Hyde said. "He swiped 'em."

Kelso pointed at Hyde and nodded. "And Casey'll never know 'cause you're all gonna be wearing costumes and masks. Just hand in that invite with a buck-fifty, and you're good." He stared at everyone in turn except Jackie, who was standing beside him and tapping her boot on the floor. "Well?" he said.

"'Well' what?" Hyde said.

"Where's my thank-you?" Kelso slid his arm around Jackie's shoulders. Her boot stopped its tapping, but Hyde's leg bounced in its place. He should've been used to the sight of them together, but his body reacted. Always reacted. "Since I'm the only one here in a relationship right now," Kelso said, "I figured I'd do you guys a favor. I mean, Eric, Donna—have either of you guys even made-out with anyone who isn't you?"

Forman and Donna looked at each other across the couch, but Donna dropped her gaze to the invite.

"And Hyde," Kelso said, "you dated Melissa for, like, a month! That's your longest relationship. You've gotta be stinging from the breakup."

Hyde shrugged. He and Melissa mutually called it quits a week ago. She'd gotten really into him once he pulled his head from his ass. But she'd spotted every tell on his face, the betrayal in his voice. His leg bouncing now—she would've called him on it, just like she called him on the other cues. _"It's Jackie,"_ she eventually said, and he respected her too much to deny it.

Melissa was a cool chick. Smart, hot, and someone he could've fallen for … if hadn't already fallen for someone else.

"Fez, you never have a girlfriend." Kelso flapped Fez's invite in Fez's direction. "I was trying to help you out, but you just had to go and burn me."

"For your information," Fez said. "I have a date with a beautiful woman in a month. Once she comes back from her family's dirt farm in Mississippi—"

"Big Rhonda?" Kelso's arm slipped from Jackie's shoulders and he passed the invite back to Fez. "Okay, you need this."

Fez looked over the invite but frowned. "This says nothing about candy. There better be candy at this party."

"There'll be a keg," Kelso said.

Hyde's eyebrows rose. "I'm in." A night of beer and make-outs didn't sound so bad. He just had to come up with a costume that wasn't lame. He hadn't dressed up for Halloween since he was eight.

"I don't know..." Donna said.

"I'll be there," Forman said. "No better way to get this moving-on thing started than by swapping spit with a couple of drunken strangers."

Donna peered up at Jackie, and Jackie spoke for her. "Donna'll be there, too. I've seen Casey's guy friends, and they are _hot._ H.O.T.-hot." She patted Kelso's arm. "And what are we gonna do tomorrow night?"

"Oh, uh … I was planning on going to the party," Kelso said.

"What? You said the party's only for singles!"

"But I gotta make the party horrible for Casey. Jackie, do you know how many birthday parties of mine he ruined? Finally, I've got a chance to get him back."

Her lips pressed together, and she glared at Hyde. Was she trying to get sympathy? Or confirmation of Kelso's stupidity? Hyde forced his leg to quit bouncing, but he began flicking the invite. In his most secret hopes, her glances were pleas for help, to get her away from Kelso, to convince her to drop him for good. But if Kelso's own behavior hadn't done that by now, nothing would.

Her chest rose with an inhaled breath."Fine," she said to Kelso. "I'll spend Halloween without you, but if you even think about kissing a girl who isn't me, we're through."

She turned from him and headed for the basement door.

"Jackie, wait!" Kelso said, and she stopped by Forman's stereo. "Halloween isn't until Tuesday! I thought we were going trick-or-treating together."

"Whatever, Michael." Her hair whipped behind her as she continued toward the door. She grabbed her jacket off the wall hook, and she was gone.

Kelso stared after her and scratched his chin. "Man … good thing she can't read my thoughts, huh?"

Hyde's fingers quit flicking the invite. Tension was finally leaving his body, and he said, "Maybe she can." Melissa had practically read his, and it had screwed them.

"Nah. She would've broken up with me months ago." Kelso turned the TV back on and sat between Forman and Donna on the couch. "But thinking about doin' it with other chicks doesn't count, right Big D?" He elbowed Forman in the ribs, and Forman grunted. "Eric, you thought about doin' it with tons of other girls while you two dated, and Donna stayed with you."

" _Playboy_ Bunnies don't count, Kelso," Forman said. "It's not like I'd ever meet any of them."

"And if he did, he could never get them," Donna said.

He grinned at her. "I got you."

"Technically, I got you."

"And, just as technically, I'm the one who broke up with you."

"Burn!" Kelso shouted in Donna's face, and Donna scrambled off the couch. "Donna, technically that was a burn."

She stuck her index finger into one of her ears and wiggled it. "Okay, my ears are ringing now..." She waved the invite at Kelso and Forman. "But both of you can get bent—and I've got to figure out what I'm wearing tomorrow night."

She left the basement, and Forman pointed at the door once it shut. "That's right, Pinciotti!. I won that round!"

 _Three's Company_ 's theme song filled the room. The episode was over. Hyde had gotten only a glimpse of Chrissy and Janet's chests, but in exchange he'd gained access to the inner workings of Kelso and Jackie's relationship. Trust was a limited commodity between them. If Kelso made one wrong move, they were done.

Not that it did Hyde any good. Jackie would probably date a football player next or the rich son of one of her dad's colleagues. She'd made her feelings for Hyde clear almost a year ago: they didn't exist, and he had to live with it.

"Ooh, I can't wait until tomorrow night," Fez said. "Maybe I will get to kiss Donna again."

Forman flinched. "Again?"

"Yes. She sucked my face when I told Caroline we were in love. That Donna, she puts her everything into a part."

"Right. Well, I plan on having copious make-outs." Forman cracked his knuckles. "Kelso, how many closets does your house have?"

Kelso counted on his fingers and appeared to whisper closet designations to himself. "Ten," he said a moment later. "And we'll have access to all of them. Kim's at college. My parents are out of town to visit Gramps, and they took the twins with them. It's gonna be an awesome night!"

Hyde folded up his invite and stuck it in his jeans pocket. Jackie wouldn't be at the party. Donna would be, but they'd recognize each other's voices and call it off. And if he ended up in a closet with a good kisser, maybe they'd have time to do more than make-out. He'd bring rubbers just in case. A closet quickie or two wouldn't un-fuck his heart, but they'd make for a great Halloween.

* * *

Fake gravestones littered Michael's front yard, as did a few jack-o'-lanterns. The whole property throbbed with the music of Alice Cooper. Red light bled from the house's windows, but if the sight was supposed to be intimidating, it failed. Jackie had seen worse at the nail salon, where old ladies got their knobby, arthritic fingers manicured.

She approached the Kelsos' porch, clutching two dollars at her side and the invitation she'd stolen from Michael's pile. She'd left her promise ring at home, but black gloves disguised her hands anyway. Her Batgirl mask was firmly on her face. No one would recognize her here, not unless she spoke.

Frankenstein's monster greeted her at the Kelsos' front door. He was as tall as Casey Kelso, and he had the voice to match. "Our first Batgirl!" he said through his mask. A plastic jack-o'-lantern bucket dangled from his left wrist, and he dropped both her money and the invitation into it. "Ever been to a Monster Make-Out Mash-Up party before?"

She shook her head wordlessly.

"Well, you're in for a treat. Here are the rules: try to keep your mask on at all times. When you drink or eat anything, lift it just high enough to get the grub into your mouth. At some point, you'll be grabbed. Just go with it. There are no uggos here. Anyone you're paired with will be worthy of whatever you're hiding under there." He circled his finger around her mask. "Got it?"

She nodded, and he stepped aside to let her into the house. A pile of skull masks was on a table in the foyer. She gestured to it, a silent question. Normally, she wouldn't care, but she had to act like someone else. Her costume was already _so_ not her. A purple-wearing flying rat? But Michael couldn't know she'd come to this party. He'd I.D. her if she'd dressed as one of her favorite characters.

"Those are for people who didn't bring their own masks," Casey said. "Anyway, have fun and enjoy the tongue."

She gave him a thumbs-up but stuck out her own tongue behind her mask. She had no plans on kissing anyone who wasn't her boyfriend. But first she had to make sure he was staying true to his word. His stated intention tonight was to wreck the party, not to cheat on her, and she had little reason not to trust him. Their last go at a relationship, he'd betrayed her at the six-month mark. This time, he'd been faithful for seven months and counting.

His fidelity should've reassured her Too often, though, it grasped her heart and squeezed, buckling her knees and stinging her eyes with tears. _"Why?"_ she often found herself asking God. Why did being with Michael again feel more like declaring bankruptcy than going into the black?

God was unlikely to answer her at this party, but at least she could find Michael. He'd come here as Dr. Zaius, the orangutan scientist from _Planet of the Apes._ He'd showed the costume to her last week. The movie was stupid. The costume was even dumber, but it would make her search less difficult. Super heroes like her roamed the living room, along with Disney princesses and cartoon characters. The party also had a few demons, both male and female, and half a dozen Grim Reapers. Dr. Zaius would be easy to spot.

She pushed passed a ghost to get beyond the foyer. Red light spilled onto the walls and people's costumes. The lamps' regular bulbs had all been replaced with red ones. A tacky choice, just like the cobwebs suspended from the ceiling. They were made of cotton, but they'd probably still scare Eric.

Eyeballs, severed fingers, and bits of brain—all made of plastic—cluttered the bookshelves. Bowls of Doritos, pretzels, and candy sat on TV trays. Willy Wonka was stationed beside a bowl of gummy worms, and he lifted his mask slightly to eat. The bottom of his face was visible in flashes, but the dim red light made identifying him impossible.

 _Michael._ She had to focus on Michael, and she moved deeper into the living room.

Most of the party guests ignored her as she walked by, but a Grim Reaper saluted her with a plastic cup of beer The acknowledgment chilled her skin, as if he were death itself, and Jackie rubbed her arms. His dark hood didn't hide the skeleton mask on his face. It was was more frightful than the ones Casey gave out, and the gaze behind it lingered on her a little too long. His attention was understandable, however. Batgirl's skirt put her legs on display. The costume also showed off her waist and hips. Fortunately, a cape concealed her butt. She didn't want to cause a riot.

The Grim Reaper left her, his black robe billowing with each step. She pulled her own gaze from him, but a pair of screams froze her by the hallway. The Six-Million Dollar Man dragged Bugs Bunny past her. A demon was close by, yanking a female werewolf by the arm. The four of them disappeared into the hallway, and a metallic shriek followed.

That was the door of the Kelsos' linen closet, and Jackie peered into the hallway. The demon and Six-Million Dollar Man stood in front of the closet, arms crossed over their chests. Were they acting as sentries or prison wardens? Either way, Bugs Bunny and the female werewolf had to be in that closet, paired up for a make-out.

Jackie kept moving. She couldn't risk being seized herself and rushed toward the stairs. They led to the second floor, but more screams scraped her eardrums. This time, Darth Vader and a skeleton shoved Betty Boop and Ringo Starr into a living room closet. Both Darth Vader and the skeleton stood guard, and Jackie hurried up the stairs.

Michael had to be here somewhere, more than likely hiding live spiders in Casey's bed. Casey's room was farthest from the stairs, but she checked it first. Superman and the Tin Man were inside. Not Dr. Zaius, and she swallowed a curse. They were guarding Casey's closet, and Superman wagged his finger at her, as if to say she didn't belong.

She didn't, and she dashed across the hallway to Kim's bedroom. Huckleberry Hound and Jaws guarded the closet there, but Jaws looked at the watch on his wrist. He tapped it. Huckleberry Hound nodded, pulled open the closet door, and Michael stumbled out.

His Dr. Zaius mask was askew, covering the side of his head, and Jackie's mouth went slack as a tall, obviously college-aged woman emerged from the closet after him. Her Snow White mask was strapped to her arm, and she wiped her right hand on her dress.

Jackie closed her mouth and breathed heavily through her nose. The room's red light seemed to throb with her pulse, but she continued to spy from the doorway. Michael righted the Dr. Zaius mask on his face, and Huckleberry Hound pointed to the fly of Michael's slacks. It was down.

Michael laughed, zipped his fly, and buttoned it.

Jaws patted him on the back afterward, an obvious congratulations, and Jackie fled the room. She barreled down the stairs, but her heel skidded on a step. She lost her balance, started to fall backward, but her arms shot out and gripped the bannisters. Her reflexes were honed by years of cheer routines. No staircase was going to take her out, and neither was Michael.

She darted to an armchair once she hit the first floor. A Grim Reaper was sitting on it, this one obviously female. Her voice gave her away. She was taking to Wilma Flintstone, who lounged on the sofa.

Jackie crouched behind the armchair anyway, despite that it was occupied. She needed to regroup, mentally, physically. Her heart was thumping in her chest, competing with Alice Cooper's drummer. Her cheeks flushed hot, but she kept on her mask. No one could discover her, not yet. Confronting Michael in his own house, surrounded by drunk people, was not an effective strategy.

But Snow White had definitely touched him—maybe even kissed him—below the belt. Was she the first tonight? Would she be the last? Jackie had no wish to find out, but a thick arm hooked her around her waist. It yanked her from the chair, and she kicked out her legs. Her feet were no longer on the floor, but what what was she fighting? Michael had cheated, freeing her to kiss whomever she wanted.

She relaxed into her kidnapper's arms as he carried her to a huge, living room closet. He pushed her inside, but she caught a glimpse of him: George Jetson had chosen her for this fate, and his pal Porky Pig shoved one of the Grim Reapers beside her.

The closet door closed, shutting out all light. She was effectively blind, but a hand landed on her shoulder. She flinched and held her breath. The Grim Reaper— _Death_ —was touching her. He didn't say anything, and she groped for his chest.

"Your dumb costume is so flouncy!" she said. Her fingers had gotten caught in the material of his robe. It seemed endless, but the hand on her shoulder sprang off her. "Don't be insulted. I just want to make sure you don't have boobs." She continued fumbling with the robe, but it hid Death's body too well. "Great. Those idiots did put me in here with a girl."

Or the actual personification of death.

"Are you even alive?" she said but silence answered her. _"Ugh."_ She'd had the opportunity to get even with Michael, for everything, and Porky Pig had to go and ruin it.

She disentangled herself from Death's robe, losing one of her gloves in the process. The closet door had to be nearby. A hard knock should get the guards' attention. If it didn't, she'd scream until they let her out.

Her naked fist punched the air, searching for the door, but fingers wrapped around her wrist. They pulled on her gently, pressing her palm against a heartbeat. She splayed her fingers and discovered a solid, convincingly male chest . "Oh," she said. "Sorry."

If Death had been wearing gloves at the party, he wasn't anymore. His skin was pleasingly warm, not clammy, but her stomach churned like a ship caught in a storm. What if Michael had been set up by Casey? Casey could've found him out and spiked Michael's beer with hard liquor. Hoped Michael would act on instinct if put into a closet with a girl. He and Michael hated each other, and trying to ruin Michael's relationship wasn't above him.

Maybe Michael hadn't meant to cheat at all but wasn't in his right mind.

"I don't know what to do," she said, and Death released her wrist. "No, I know how to make-out. I'm a great kisser. but..." She snatched the material at his chest. It wasn't as rough or as light as his robe. It had to be a T-Shirt, and the lighter material of the robe fell over her arm. He must've lifted it up for her, and now he'd let go of it.

She tried to do the same to his shirt, release it, but her fingers were stiff, and her lungs couldn't seem to take in enough air. "I want to do this. Help me do this—"

Death removed her mask and cradled the sides of her face. The tenderness of his touch loosened her grip on his shirt. She shut her eyes, and a tremor passed through her. She hadn't kissed a boy besides Michael in almost a year. She'd closed herself off to possibilities, to real joy, but she cupped the nape of Death's neck. It was covered by the same material of his robe. Was he still wearing his hood?

Death's breath tickled her nose. It was tinged with alcohol, but mostly it smelled like peppermint. His mask had to be off, and she clenched her teeth as his lips pecked hers.

He put space between their faces but was still cradling her cheeks. His quick kiss had to be a question: would she let him do more?

Her temples began to ache, and she relaxed her jaw. He wasn't a drunken brute. He'd asked permission, and though being courteous didn't entitle anyone to anything, she liked how his hands felt on her face.

She nodded between his palms, and his mouth was on hers again. His lips moved with intent, and she opened hers slightly, but another tremor shook her. Her body and mind were threatening to go numb, just like they had a year ago when she'd kissed Steven.

Death deepened the kiss, giving her the briefest sweep and taste of his tongue. It was another request for permission—and familiar. Just like the sensation of his mouth, the kindness of his hands.

"Steven?" she whispered.

He didn't answer, but heat scorched the numbness creeping through her. She yanked off his hood. Her fingers sank into soft curls, and her lungs expanded in her chest, filling her blood with much-needed oxygen.

One of his hands slipped beneath her cape and settled on the small of her back, but the other remained on her cheek. He drew her face closer, and she offered him the fullness of her mouth. Their lips melded as if being together was their natural state. Her tongue circled his slowly, and he responded to her with an intensity that overwhelmed her senses. Blood pounded in her ears. It burned in her stomach and ached between her thighs.

Their kiss last year hadn't felt like this. Back then, fear had bullied other feelings off the stage, but now it played only a minor part. She didn't want to stop, but what if Death really wasn't Steven? Other boys had curly hair. Other boys were capable of being tender and respectful. If she could convince herself Michael would be faithful, she could convince herself of anything.

She grasped Death's hip under his robe and spoke into his cheek. "Please," she whispered, "tell me you are who I think you are. Steven, tell me it's you."

Death nuzzled his nose in her hair. His arms wrapped around her back, and he said, "You wanna talk, or you wanna kiss, Beulah?"

Her blood pounded harder. Desire moistened her mouth and throbbed through her body. She plunged her hand into his pants pocket, hoping to feel his desire for her. Since last winter, once her fear subsided, she'd craved him. But she'd had to deny it, to deny herself, because he'd said no.

Her fingers closed around what had to be a pair of plastic-wrapped condoms. He'd come to this party prepared, expecting to have sex. "Did you use one of these tonight already?" she said and pressed a condom into his hand.

His fingers eased around her palm, trapping the condom between their skin. "Nope."

"Would you use one with me? Now?"

"Besides the obvious reason … why?"

A host of answers flooded her mind: to learn what sex would feel like with him—with anyone who wasn't Michael. For revenge. For freedom. Kissing Michael gave her visions of the future, _a_ future, and he did turn her on. But kissing Steven just now had saturated her with his core. It was euphoric; it was exhilarating and nothing Michael could ever offer.

"It'll haunt me if we don't." She held Steven's hand tighter, and the condom's wrapper cut into her palm. Her connection to him was visceral. Its roots were buried so deeply inside her she didn't know where they began, but would they extend to sex? With Michael, all she experienced during love-making was disconnect. She pretended as if that weren't true, tried to explain it away, but any pleasure he eked from her was hollow.

"Fate pushed us in here together," she went on, "wearing two very tacky costumes. Or maybe it was God. The way you kissed me, Steven, you can't tell me you feel nothing. I don't want to lose this chance—"

Red light pierced the darkness as the closet door swung open. She covered her face with her mask, and Steven turned his back to the living room, but his hands were unmistakably his. Her gaze had wandered to them in the basement many times, her mind imagining what they were capable of.

"You want more time?" George Jetson said, and Steven reached behind himself and managed to close the door. George Jetson's muffled laughter came through, and Porky Pig said, "Guess that's a yes."

Jackie searched for Steven in the darkness, but she pushed into something soft and thick that resisted her—coats on hangers. She backed up a step, and her arm bumped into something harder. One of Steven cupped her elbow and clutched her hip, and he brought her to his body. He had to realize why she'd come to the party, why she'd allowed herself to be tossed into this closet. Why she'd kissed a stranger who, much to her relief, happened to be him.

"Do you still have the condom?" she whispered.

"Dropped it, but I got another. How you wanna do this?"

She ripped the mask from her head and thrust its elastic band over her arm. Michael was too clumsy to make love standing up. Even with her flexibility, he couldn't make it work. She and Steven had little time for foreplay, and darkness surrounded them. Facing him didn't matter that much, not in this case. Everything that he was would pass into her, for better or for worse.

A chill shuddered through her as she tugged her panties to her knees. She found his wrist and placed his palm flat on her thigh, just below her butt. "This'll be the easiest way," she said. "From behind."

"Yeah, okay … but let's get you a little help." He grasped her waist and guided her from the coats. A sharp sound followed, like he'd slapped plaster, and she stretched her arms above her head. Her hands pressed against the closet wall, and she jutted out her butt slightly. "This ain't gonna be the scenic route," he sad. "You cool with that?"

"I'm scared," she said and bit the inside of her cheek. "But I need to do this, to be with you."

"You don't have to be scared." His arm slid around her stomach, and his chin nestled in the curve of her shoulder. "You wanna stop, we stop. No questions asked, all right?"

"Are you sure _you_ want to do this?"

His lips teased the flesh of her neck in response. He palmed one of her breasts over her the material of her costume, and the fingers of his other hand glided between her legs. Her breath came out in short puffs, but as his skill heated her blood and her body warmed up, she calmed down.

"You good?" he whispered after a few minutes.

She pushed her palms hard against the wall and widened her stance. "Mm-hmm."

He withdrew his hands from her, and moments later his condom-sheathed erection brushed her thigh. He grabbed her hips, but she said, "Wait."

"Sure." His erection didn't move from her thigh. Unlike Michael, he was actually waiting after she told him to.

"Why?" she said. "Why are you doing this with me?"

He hugged her waist, though not tightly, and kissed her cheek. "Why not?"

Her skin tingled where his lips had touched it, and the buzz spread to her mouth. "It's me, Steven. I make you want to vomit."

"Think we both know that's not true anymore." He hugged her tighter, and the tip of his nose caressed her temple. "And considerin' we're about to fuck, let's not talk about puke—or at all—unless you're callin' it quits?"

"No," she whispered. The way he was holding her, how he was speaking, he had to care. Steven Hyde was good at faking many things, but affection wasn't one of them. "I'm ready."

His arms disappeared from her waist. He reasserted his grip on her hips, and he entered her slowly, carefully. His thickness wasn't a shock. Michael was slightly thicker, but Steven filled her aching center like Michael never had. "Still good?" he said.

"Uh-huh," she said, but her voice wavered. She was throbbing around him, and the pulses reached her stomach. "Steven … go."

He brought back his hips and buried himself in her again, this time even more deeply, and she let out a whimper. The sound surprised her, embarrassed her, and she squeezed her eyes shut. But as he began to thrust inside her, as his strokes became increasingly more fluid, her shyness fell away. She lost herself to the sensation of him … to his power, his rhythm.

She braced herself with the wall as her legs shook. She called out for him and God interchangeably, but he stayed silent. "Steven," she said as she drew closer to the end, "I need to hear my name."

His strokes slowed before stopping altogether. He was barely inside her now, and his chest warmed her back. He was hugging her like before, and he pushed himself into her with deliberate, agonizing precision. He hit a spot Michael could never seem to find, and she swallowed a groan.

"Beulah..." His voice betrayed his smile, and he kissed the skin below her ear. "Jackie."

Shivers trembled through her body, but these weren't cold. They burned like stars. Her name on his lips had created a universe behind her eyes. "Again," she said. "Please."

His sigh tangled in her hair. "You had to say _please._ " He laid his forehead on her shoulder, and his curls fuzzed her cheek. "Jackie … can't believe we're doin' this."

Most of his body vanished from hers, and she drove her hips backward, eliciting a grunt from him as she took him back inside. He laughed, and one of hands went to her stomach. His fingers inched beneath the material of her costume. His palm pushed into the flesh under her belly button, and the pressure pounded between her thighs. She had no idea how he'd accomplished that. It was like a magic trick, but his fingers inched toward the pressure. They surrounded it, caressed it, and relieved it.

"Close?" he whispered.

"Mmm." She'd given him little more than a sound, but she was beyond words.

His other hand tightened on her hip. He thrust up, hitting the core of her pleasure over and over, and her lashes dampened with tears. She was seconds from release, but the stars behind her eyes began to burn out. "Steven—" she managed to say, "Steven, wait."

"Crap." He stopped but didn't pull out of her.

"Promise me this won't be the last time."

Two breaths pushed from his lungs. She opened her wet eyes but saw only darkness until he said, "It won't be."

She thrust her hips back, and he recovered his rhythm in seconds. She clenched her fists, dug her knuckles into the closet wall, and any sense of time and space abandoned her as she convulsed around him. Their voices mingled together wordlessly, but his grunts grew louder and more sustained until his rhythm fell apart.

She removed her fists from the wall. Her muscles were sore, and salt coated her tongue from a mixture of sweat and tears. Most of her questions had been answered tonight. All but one, and the answers had opened gates she'd feared were rusted shut.

"So..." Steven's damp cheek slid beside hers as he embraced her from behind, "some party, huh?"

Commitment-free," she whispered and hugged what she could of his arms.

"Yup," he said, but neither of them let the other go.


	2. Part 2

**Disclaimer:** _That '70s Show_ copyright The Carsey-Werner Company, LLC and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC.

 **TRICK OR TREAT  
~PART 2~**

Mrs. Forman flitted around the kitchen in her fairy costume. Three large glass bowls sat on the counter, and she was opening cabinets and pulling bags of candy from them. Her glittering wings bounced with her movements, and Hyde chuckled at her passion for the holiday. Forman, though, tried to snatch a bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups from her.

"Eric, honey—no." Mrs. Forman shooed him from the counter. "This is a big Halloween for me." She opened the bags of candy and began distributing them into the glass bowls. "Five new families moved into the neighborhood, and they all have young children!"

"Five families huh?" Forman said. "Wow. So … they'll really need Price-Mart's entire stock of candy." His Bugs Bunny mask was strapped to his arm. He pinched one of its bendable ears and stared at the counter. "Mom, we could cut our trick-or-treating short if you'd let us have one of those bags. The Snickers Minis, for example."

She placed a hand on her sparkle-covered chest. "I wouldn't dream of depriving you."

He stepped toward her. "Thanks, Mom—"

She jabbed her finger at the breakfast table, where Hyde was standing. "Over there, mister. What I'm not depriving you of is the chance to trick-or-treat. College and starting a career don't leave much time for Halloween." She continued to put candy into the bowls. "I'm so glad you boys changed your mind about going this year. What did it?"

"Fez," Hyde said. He had two plastic grocery bags dangling from his left arm. A full carton of eggs was at the bottom of one. Getting candy wasn't so interesting to him, but he hadn't egged a house since ninth grade. "His first go at trick-or-treating sucked. His second go, he sprained his ankle, so we're tryin' to get him a good experience."

"Well, isn't that just the sweetest thing?" she said and tossed a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup at him.

He caught it, his first score of the evening. "This is pretty sweet, too. Thanks, Mrs. Forman."

"Mom!" Forman blinked like a gnat was caught in his lashes. "He's not even wearing a costume!"

"Fine." She threw a Tootsie Roll at him, but he fumbled the catch. The Tootsie Roll landed by Forman's feet as Red entered from the sliding glass door. Red squatted before Forman could react, scooped up the Tootsie Roll, and stood up straight.

Forman gawked at him. "That's mine!"

"Then you should've caught it, dumbass." Red unwrapped the Tootsie Roll and lobbed it into his mouth. He'd earned it, as far as Hyde was concerned. Who the hell figured a fifty-year-old could maneuver that fast? "Kitty," Red said, "driveway's haunted up. If kids don't know to come through this way," he waved toward Forman, "they're as dumb as him."

"Hey!" Forman said. "I thought this was Halloween, not _Crap On Eric_ day."

Hyde smirked. "It can be both."

Red pointed at him, as if Hyde had said exactly what was in his mind, but Mrs. Forman said, "Okay, we are being a little harsh." She approached Eric with her fist clenched. "It's just that bunny outfit, sweetie. It makes—it makes people want to—" She punched the plastic bucket he carried. It was in the shape of Darth Vader's mask. "It makes them want to be not so nice."

Forman indicated his gray-and-white costume. "But I'm Bugs Bunny, America's beloved rascal. And we all agreed to wear the costumes we'd worn to the party on Saturday night—"

"I didn't." No one had said shit to Hyde about it or about Casey's party, either. Donna was a ghost, avoiding Forman in school and the basement. Fez had spent the evenings drawing a map of which houses to hit tonight and in what order. Kelso, meanwhile, was confused about why Jackie wasn't talking to him.

 _"Guess she's still annoyed,"_ Kelso kept saying in the school halls, not that Hyde had seen much of Jackie himself. Was she having regrets? When he'd first heard her voice in that closet, he almost split on her. But she wouldn't have been there—or with him—if Kelso hadn't engraved his own tombstone.

"Oh, it's just wonderful!" Mrs. Forman said. She was gazing through the sliding glass door, and her silver crown gleamed in the kitchen light. "Red, the jack-o'-lanterns you carved are scary without being terrifying, and giving the plastic skeletons top hats and canes? They're so charming!" She turned to Red and pecked him on the lips. "Thank you."

"Anything to keep my girl happy." He eased his hand below her fairy wings, to the small small of her back, and went in for another kiss.

Forman tugged on Hyde's sleeve. "Let's go before I puke."

"You mean before they do it on the kitchen table?" Hyde said but escaped to the driveway. As glad as he was that the Formans had the hots for each other, especially at their age, watching them go at it was one memory he could live without.

Jack-o'-lanterns glowed on the porch, and Red's skeletons pointed to the kitchen. A giant spider was plastered to the garage door, and Hyde cringed as Forman whisper-shrieked by his ear.

"Th-that better be fake," Forman said, "or I swear to God—!"

Hyde raised his plastic bag with the egg carton in it. "You wanna egg it, see if it moves?"

"No. I want it to die." Forman peered inside his plastic Darth Vader bucket and yanked out a candy bar. "A Snickers Mini! My mommy does love me!"

"Man, sometimes I wonder why I'm friends with you." Hyde tried to swipe the Snickers from Forman, but Forman dropped it into his bucket. "Gettin' faster. Good." He checked his watch. Kelso and Fez were supposed to meet them on the driveway at 5:30 p.m. In three minutes, they'd be late. "You really wear that Bugs Bunny get-up on Saturday?"

Forman's mask remained strapped to his arm, and he straightened out the ears. "I had to pick something a little … not-Eric. If I'd gone as Spider-Man or someone from _Star Wars,_ Donna would've made me. She already screwed me out of a date with Connie, this girl I met at the Price-Mart ball—and she flat-out said she didn't want to watch me kiss girls who weren't her." He put on the Bugs Bunny mask and circled his finger around it. "So I had to go ultra-incognito."

Forman's plan was sound, but Hyde understood Donna's point of view. Hyde had used every mental trick in his stockpile the last year, whenever Jackie Frenched Kelso in front of him.

"Anyway, what about you?" Forman shoved the Bugs Bunny mask to the top of his head, uncovering his face. "You were at the party. What'd you wear?"

"A rubber," Hyde said. Having to sport a costume sucked, and wearing one so many other people had chosen sucked even harder. But his mask was the most horrific and badass of all the Grim Reapers, so he'd retained some sense of cool, at least.

"You got lucky?" Forman said. Hyde nodded, and Forman gave him a high-five. "Nice."

"How'd you score?" Hyde said.

Forman's shoulders hiked to his ears, like he was embarrassed. "Well, you know … I had fun."

Hyde had no clue what that meant, if Forman had swapped spit with anyone or spent the night getting wasted and eating candy. He intended to ask for clarity, but a fracas on the street stole his attention: Willy Wonka was chasing Dr. Zaius toward the Formans' driveway, and he whipped a pillow case at Dr. Zaius's butt.

"That was my Dum Dum, you dumb-dumb!" Willy Wonka shouted with Fez's voice. "My host parents gave it to me!"

"You want it, you can have it!" Dr. Zaius hurled a lollipop at Willy Wonka's head, and Willy Wonka dodged it.

Hyde plucked an egg from one of his shopping bags "If you two don't knock it off, you're gettin' egged."

Dr. Zaius and Willy Wonka quit running. They removed their masks, revealing Kelso and Fez's faces. Kelso had a plastic jack-o'-lantern bucket with him, and Hyde was tempted to chuck the egg into it. But Kelso had a lot worse coming to him.

"I'm so excited," Fez said as Hyde returned the egg to the carton. "Finally, I will experience a true Amedican Halloween. I have my map." He pulled the map from his pillowcase. "Any houses that give fruit or pennies are crossed out."

Kelso tapped Forman's arm and said, "Is Big Red joining us?"

"No idea." Forman looked toward the Pinciottis' property. "We haven't really talked the last few days."

"Oh, like me and Jackie," Kelso said.

Forman slapped his Darth Vader bucket against his thigh. "We're nothing like you."

"That's too bad. Then you'd know your breakup was only temporary." Kelso smoothed down the orange coat that composed the majority of his costume. "Yeah, me and Jackie break up all the time, but we're so in love it doesn't matter. She always takes me back no matter what I do."

Hyde dragged a breath into his nose. "Let's get this show on the road, huh?"

Fez pointed to the Pinciottis' house on his map. "We should go to Donna's first, or Bob will eat what he bought for trick-or-treaters, the greedy bastard."

He re-hid his face in the Willy Wonka mask and marched across the driveway. Everyone followed, and Forman and Kelso crowded Fez as he rang the Pinciottis' doorbell. Hyde, however, stood back and reconsidered chucking an egg at Kelso. Seven months of being with Jackie again must've made Kelso complacent. She hadn't shared any details about it at the party. But allowing herself to be thrown in a closet with a stranger, welcoming a kiss by one—pleading with Hyde to fuck her—said plenty.

The Pinciottis' front door swung open, and one of the fake bats decorating it fell off. Bob and his girlfriend, Joanne, didn't seem to notice. They stood in the doorway and smiled at everyone on the stoop.

"Hiya, Bugs," Bob said to Forman then snapped his fingers at Kelso. "Dr. Zaius, right?" He spent a few extra seconds scrutinizing Fez. "And you must be one of Cinderella's footmen."

"Cinderella's footman?" Fez ripped his mask off. "I am the greatest confectioner in the world!"

"Okey-dokey," Bob said, like he still couldn't identify Fez's costume. "Joanne, here, is—"

Joanne coughed, and Bob shut up. She was wearing a tennis outfit. A racket was in one hand, and a bowl of candy was supported by the other and her chest. "I'm Billy Jean King."

"And I'm _the_ King." Bob had on a white jumpsuit, covered in rhinestones. "You know, Elvis?" He huffed out a line of "Burning Love," and Joanne smacked his leg with her tennis racket. "Sorry." He cleared his throat. "You're waiting for a different kind of treat."

He grabbed a fistful of Hershey's Kisses from the bowl. "Only one for Bugs because he broke my baby's heart." He dropped a Kiss into Forman's Darth Vader bucket. "Dr. Zaius gets more. I love that movie." A few Kisses plunked into Kelso's jack-o'-lantern bucket. "And the Candy Man—"

"Willy Wonka!" Fez shouted. "He has his own chocolate factory!" He shook his open pillow case at Bob. "Give me the whole bowl, you big doofy."

"Willy Wonka?" Bob said. "What kind of name is—"

"Bob," Joanne said, "just give the kid some candy."

Bob dumped some Kisses into Fez's pillow case. "Hyde?" he said, and Hyde held open his empty plastic bag. "I get three points if I make this shot." He launched a Hershey's Kiss at Hyde, and it landed in Hyde's bag. "Girls!" Bob shouted into the house. "I just became an NBA star!"

"Did you change costumes?" Donna's voice answered.

"No! But I—oh, never mind. Your friends are here!"

"We'll be there in a second, Dad!"

 _Girls? We?_ Hyde quirked up an eyebrow. This night was about to get interesting.

Donna appeared at the front door, and Joanne stepped aside. Donna had on an elaborate werewolf costume, but instead wearing a mask, a pair of fuzzy wolf ears adorned the top of her head.

"Isn't my daughter the cutest darn werewolf?" Bob said. He held Donna's fur-covered hands and kissed her forehead. "Enjoy yourself tonight. Don't bite anyone."

"Good warning," Forman said.

"Shut up, Eric. Dad..." Donna squeezed Bob's hands affectionately, and her eyes flicked to Joanne. "You guys enjoy yourself, too … preferably before I get home, please."

She strode outside and pushed past Forman. Her ghost-inspired candy bucket banged into his Darth Vader bucket. Forman glared at her but said nothing.

"Move, Eric," Jackie said. She left the Pinciottis', wearing the Batgirl costume from Saturday, minus the mask. She'd added a plastic utility belt, though, and it accented the curve of her hips.

Hyde stayed back, but his mouth grew moist. The memory of kissing her, of being inside her, circulated through his organs like blood. She'd infected his thoughts and nervous system, but he needed to act cool. Giving himself away would give heraway. She had to be the one to torch her relationship with Kelso, not him.

"Jackie—" Kelso said as she hopped off the stoop.

"Michael," she said but acknowledged no one else.

Fez took the lead, holding the map in front of him. Jackie stuck close to Donna, and Kelso sidled next to Hyde. "She's just playing hard to get," Kelso whispered. "No way is she annoyed with me anymore. Man, the sex is gonna be hot tonight!"

"Sure." Hyde gazed at Jackie, who was walking ahead of them. Her purple and yellow cape flowed behind her, giving him glimpses of her ass. But as much as he craved to touch it, the deepest part of him lusted after her laughter, her mind, her freakin' heart.

He wrenched his gaze from her, but he could've stared all night. Families with little kids wandered the sidewalks in packs. Their chatter was little more than background noise, and orange light ringed the sky. The sun was setting. Street lamps were lighting up, and Hyde's throat itched with unspoken words.

Jackie wasn't talking much, either. To anyone. It wasn't her usual deal, but he assumed nothing. She'd talked her voice raw to him at the party, about everything but Kelso, and he was content to listen. Being with her that night had toppled his ideas about sex, of what it could feel like. His expectations used to be limited to his skin, but she'd carved herself into his breaths, into his spirit—if such a thing existed.

"So," Forman said when they reached Kelso's neighborhood, "Casey's party was really something." His Bugs Bunny mask was off, and he grinned at Donna. Her bucket rattled with the candy she'd collected, and his grin widened. "I mean, you know, it was wild." He patted Fez on the shoulder. "How'd you make out, buddy?"

Fez stopped mid-stride and gaped at him. He'd been leading them to one of Kelso's neighbors, and he gripped his pillow bag tightly. "How did I make out? How did I make out?" His breath rustled his bow tie, but he didn't answer the question.

"Well, I made out," Forman went on, "so much that my lips were swollen 'til the next day. I don't want to brag, but..." He stepped under a street lamp and motioned at his bottom lip. "My make-out partner got a little enthusiastic. You can still see where she bit me."

Hyde and Kelso joined Forman under the street lamp and studied his lip. "Damn, Forman," Hyde said. "You got chomped."

Fez hurried to them, He angled Forman's head so the lamp light shone brightest on his mouth. "Ai, that is one sexy scab."

"Let me see." Jackie pushed Fez aside and poked Eric's lip wound with her gloved finger.

"Ow!" Forman jerked his head back.

"Are you acting?" she said. "Take off your rabbit glove, wet your finger, and rub the scab. Prove it's not makeup."

Forman looked at Donna. A sizable gap stretched between her and the street lamp, and she seemed overly interested in a crack in the sidewalk. Her werewolf ears slid onto her forehead as she glanced down. Her fur-covered shoe nudged a cigarette butt.

"Enough of this crap," Hyde said. "Forman had a good time. Donna had a shitty one—"

"Oh, I had a good time." Her shoe spread cigarette ash over the pavement. "But unlike some people, I choose not to speak about it."

Forman moved toward her. "Because you're ashamed?"

"A little, if I'm being honest."

"Well, that's just great!" He sounded upset, not victorious, and he swung his Darth Vader bucket into the air. "You were always a little ashamed, weren't you? Admit it, Donna."

"No!"

"Holy Hell..." Hyde laughed until his stomach hurt. He leaned against the street lamp for support, and he pushed his shades back up his nose once he calmed down. "You guys fooled around with each other at the party!"

Donna lowered her chin to her chest. "Oh, God."

"Let's just say the Kelsos' linen closet watched me and Donna use the Force," Forman said.

"Donna!" Jackie slapped Donna's arm.

"He didn't tell me it was him!" Donna shouted. "It was dark, and he was quiet!"

Forman stabbed a finger at his lip. "Until you bit me!"

"I only bit you because..." her voice lowered to a near-whisper, "we were, you know..."

Fez put his hands on his hips, and the shadow created by the street lamp copied him. "No, we don't know."

"When I talk, I tend to screw things up." Forman flailed his arms, and a piece of candy flew from his Darth Vader bucket. Fez snatched it, but Forman flailed his arms again, sending more candy onto the sidewalk. "So I thought I'd try not talking for a change—and it's not like I had any idea it was you."

"You knocked my ass into the shelves," Donna said. "Cotton balls fell on top of me."

"It's a small closet, okay? Not exactly easy to maneuver."

Jackie pinched the skin at the hollow of her throat. "You dry-humped? _Ew!_ Aren't you two supposed to be over each other?"

"We are," Donna said.

"Completely," Forman said.

"The party was about commitment-free flings." Donna gestured between herself and him. "Commitment-free."

"Yeah," he said. "and that's how she likes it. Without commitment. We're both single, so what we did was fun but meaningless. Without meaning."

"Eric," she said, but a scream sliced the air, making Hyde wince. He plugged his ears with his fingers as a shrieking toddler raced past him. The kid was dressed up as a skeleton. His tiny feet stomped the pavement, and a man in a zombie costume chased him.

The zombie eventually caught up. He scooped the kid in his arms, and the kid's shrieks turned to giggles. "Dada!" he managed to say. "Dada—"

"They're going to get all the candy!" Fez shouted and dashed to the next house on his map.

"You see, Jackie?" Kelso jostled Jackie's arm. "That's what I want us to do whenever we break up: have fun but meaningless sex!"

Jackie put distance between them. "Sex could never be meaningless for me, Michael."

Blood heated Hyde's face. He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and imagined kissing the nape of her neck. Her hair had fallen over her shoulders, revealing that tempting strip of skin. His physical response was automatic; it was obvious, and he tried to hide it by focusing on the skeleton kid and the zombie dad.

They'd stopped at a nearby house, and a witch opened the door to them. The kid reached for her from his dad's arms. The witch took him and hugged him close, and his zombie dad entered the house. He started to close the door behind himself, but in the ever-narrowing crack, Hyde witnessed the zombie's kiss to the witch's temple.

They were a family. Sex probably had meaning for the witch and the zombie. And for the Formans, but it had been consistently hollow for Hyde.

Until Jackie.

And she'd just given him a message: what they'd done together on Saturday night was important to her, too.

"Well, you look sexy in that costume," Kelso said and visually inspected Jackie's body. The light of the street lamp reflected in his eyes, exposing the hunger in them.

Hyde reached inside his plastic bag with the eggs in it. If Kelso was hungry, he could have an omelet, but Fez returned from the last house he'd visited.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Fez yanked on Kelso's sleeve. "You promised me a Halloween of trick-or-treating, not trick-or-talking!"

"Willy Wonka is right," Forman said. "Where to next, Willy?"

Fez showed them their next location, and they followed him down the street. Kelso remained close to Jackie, but Hyde flanked her other side.

"There was a Batgirl at Casey's party," Kelso continued, as if Fez hadn't interrupted him, "but she stayed with the Grim Reaper. It was so weird. She cuddled with him on the couch, sat on his lap, and they fed each other candy 'til Casey kicked them out for being a couple. 'This shindig's for singles only!'" he said, repeating what Casey had shouted at Hyde and Jackie. "But there were so many Grim Reapers at the party, maybe she was flirting with every one of them. My brother can be so dense."

"You Kelsos are dense, all right," Jackie whispered and moved closer to Hyde. Her arm grazed his, igniting his blood, but he resisted the urge to grasp her hand. "So, Michael," she said, "did your plan of ruining the party work?"

"No, but I did chew up gummy worms and spit them into Casey's socks."

"Gross," Donna said.

Fez clutched his bow tie and gasped. "Why would you waste gummy worms like that?"

"It wasn't a waste," Kelso said. "Casey's gonna hate how his feet feel tomorrow, stepping into chewed-up and spitty worms."

"You sick sonuvabitch."

Fez said nothing more, and everyone concentrated on trick-or-treating. Four out of five of the next houses added to their candy stashes. At the last one, though, no one answered the doorbell. The porch offered only an empty bowl on a stand. It must've been ransacked by other trick-or-treaters. Fez swung his leg, as if to kick the stand over, but Hyde stopped him.

"Got a better idea." Hyde passed his plastic bag full of candy to Forman and removed the carton of eggs from the other.. He opened it, held it near Fez, and said, "Ready, aim, fire."

"I get you..." Fez took an egg and threw it into the bowl. The shell broke, but its guts were neatly contained.

Hyde snatched an egg from the carton. "No, man. Like this." He hurled the egg at the front door, and shell shattered against wood. Yoke and egg white dripped on the porch as warmth spread through him. "Damn, I missed that."

Jackie giggled beside him and lobbed an egg at the door. It exploded on the wood, scattering bits of shell everywhere. Its innards melded with those of his egg, and a shuddering breath left her. Was she remembering Saturday night, how their bodies had fused together and detonated?

He jutted his chin at the closest window, and they grabbed two more eggs, but Forman clasped Hyde's shoulder. "Okay, enough with the egg toss," Forman said. "Let's get out of here before we get caught."

Jackie jutted her chin at Forman. Her unspoken suggestion was nasty, but so was Hyde. He pitched his egg at Forman's chest, but she smashed hers on the back of his skull. Some of it stained her Batgirl glove, and she tore the glove off as she jetted down the block.

"Burn!" Kelso shouted. "Hey, gimme an egg!"

Hyde put the carton of eggs into the plastic bag. Saturday afternoon, he would've let Kelso join in, but Kelso had screwed over Jackie—not that Hyde had the specifics. But it was bad enough to send her into that closet and deep into Hyde's life.

"What the hell?" Forman wiped egg guts from his hair and flung them to the sidewalk. "Did you have to?"

"Trick or treat, Forman," Hyde said, and Donna laughed. "Wanna run home to Mommy or keep goin'?"

"Oh, I'm not done..." Forman used Hyde's bag of candy to scrub yolk, egg white, and shell from his Bugs Bunny costume. "Dillhole." He shoved the bag at Hyde, and egg goop coated Hyde's hand.

Hyde rubbed his hand on his jeans. "I still got seven eggs left."

"Damn." Forman rushed after Jackie, and Donna kept laughing as she, Hyde, Kelso, and Fez caught up to them.

They ended up in the richer part of town, in Jackie's neighborhood. It was the last stop on Fez's Halloween itinerary; and, as expected, the candy here was more high-end. So were the decorations. The third house they hit had exchanged its regular front gate for one of a warped metal. A dragon sat at the top, shooting golden flames from its snout.

"Should we even go through there?" Forman said.

"It's the Wicklows," Jackie said. "They go nuts for Halloween. They don't even have their butler dole out candy. They do it themselves!"

Fez rustled his map. "That's why I added them. Do not doubt my research!"

He pushed on the front gate. It opened with a metallic whine, and everyone let Fez enter the property first. Bloody, severed heads on stakes greeted them on the front lawn. Rotting arms stuck up from the grass, and Forman cowered behind Donna. The gruesome décor either frightened or disgusted him. Not surprising, but Donna grabbed his hand—a total surprise.

Forman's held onto her palm tightly, and Hyde scoffed. They weren't over each other, no matter what they claimed.

"You're wearing the wrong costume, Forman," he said. "Shoulda gone as Super Chicken."

Jackie poked one of the severed heads in the eye. "Hmph. Rubber."

"Did it just blink?" Kelso said, and she poked the eye again. "Jackie, quit it! I think it's moaning."

But the moans came from a speaker mostly hidden by grass. Fez had gone to the Wicklows' front door and rung the bell.

"Man, they really do go all out," Hyde said. "Kinda funky. Guess if you've got the dough, why not waste it on one day outta the year instead of, y'know, payin' for a kid to get a heart transplant."

"Steven!" Jackie wrenched one of the severed heads off its stake. "Just because they can afford to celebrate Halloween, it doesn't mean they don't give to charity, too."

She chucked the head at him, and it smacked him in the stomach. He managed to hold onto it, but the bag of eggs slammed dangerously into his bag of candy. "What's this for?"

"A costume. You should've dressed up tonight."

"I am dressed up: as someone who gives a crap about Halloween." He punted the severed head at Kelso, but Kelso didn't even try to catch it. He screamed and bolted to the Wicklows' front door.

"But you did wear a costume for Casey's party," Forman said. He and Donna had let go of each other's hands, but they stood close together, between a chipped tombstone and a coffin. "Come on, Hyde. What was it?"

"Yeah!" Donna said. "It's so hard to imagine you in a costume." She lifted the coffin's lid, peeked inside, and jumped back, coughing. "Okay, these people are sick."

Hyde flicked his eyes toward Jackie. She rubbed her chin with her knuckles and said, "Maybe he did something at the party he's ashamed of. That's why he doesn't want you to know what he wore. Fez's Saturday night was a dud." She gestured at Donna and Eric. "And you two defiled the Kelsos' linen closet. Michael chewed up some gummy worms, an accomplishment not worthy of boasting about."

Strain crept into her voice, and she readjusted her plastic utility belt. "But my Saturday night..." The belt had enough containers for her to store Halloween candy in. She pulled a peppermint from one, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth. "I waited almost a year for a night like that, and I'll never forget it."

She looked squarely at Hyde. "I did nothing wrong," she said, and her eyebrows rose, as if challenging him. "In fact, you should all be jealous of me. If anyone wants to know why—"

"What was your costume, Hyde?" Forman repeated. "Tell us so she'll shut up." He clasped his hands in prayer. "Please, God, someone shut her up."

Hyde's throat had grown thick with pain. He'd been the dirty secret of so many chicks, starting with his mom. But Jackie sounded proud of their time together. Letting her believe he felt differently, that he was ashamed, would make him an asshole. Especially because it wasn't true.

He rummaged in his bag of candy. He'd gotten a few peppermints himself, and he stuck one in his mouth. "Grim Reaper," he said hoarsely.

"No way! Weren't there, like, ten of those haunting the place?" Forman grinned smugly. "Who's unoriginal now?"

"Whatever. I'm not the one who went to a singles party and fooled around with my ex."

"Shut up, Hyde," Donna said. "Go look in the coffin."

Hyde's tongue flipped the peppermint over in his mouth. "Pass."

Fez and Kelso's voices reached them through the air. They darted back from the Wicklows' front door, and Fez opened his pillow case wide. "I got gummy bears with gold flakes inside! A whole box of them. Can you believe it?"

Kelso shook his jack-o'-lantern bucket. "They gave me two boxes! Because Mrs. Wicklow thinks I'm a handsome orangutan."

"I flirted with Mr. Wicklow," Fez said, "and he dropped twenty dollars into my pillow case and his business card."

"I think they're swingers," Kelso said.

"Yes. They'll do it with anyone," Fez said.

Kelso chuckled. "Man, rich folks are crazy."

"You're telling me." Donna shuddered. "You should see what's inside the coffin."

"Let's not and say we did," Forman said.

He wove between the severed heads on stakes and waited by the front gate. Donna, Kelso, and Fez took a similar path and joined him, but Jackie peered inside the coffin and shrugged. "Donna is such a wimp."

Hyde glanced inside the coffin himself, but the smell hit his nostrils first. He coughed and shut the lid but not before catching a glimpse of rotting meat—actual rotting meat—and the maggots crawling over it.

"Shit. Jackie, how can you be cool about that?"

"Real life is much scarier, Steven. Nothing is guaranteed, not love, not the future. I don't know what's coming next, and I don't know who'll be there for me when it is does."

She strode toward the gate, and the night seemed to darken with her every step. He sped across the lawn, pushing past the darkness of his own mind, and hooked her waist. She yelped, likely from shock, but didn't struggle as he hugged her to him. They were far enough from the gate, and their friends weren't paying attention to them. They'd gotten distracted by a dog in a lion costume. Its owner had stopped by the gate to talk.

"Me," Hyde whispered by Jackie's cheek. "You've got me, all right?." His bags of candy and eggs had banged into his calf, hard enough to hurt, but the ache caged by his ribs throbbed worse. "But if we're givin' this a try, you've gotta pull the trigger."

He began to withdraw from her, but she clutched his arm. "Don't get into a serious relationship with me," she whispered, "if you're just gonna break my heart."

She let go of him, but he'd become serious about her over a year ago. His heart pumped her through his veins, into his brain; and if Kelso was truly filtered from her blood, they had a damn good shot of becoming a guarantee.

They met everyone at the front gate. The dog was gone, but Kelso blabbed on about it as they left the Wicklow Estate. Jackie waved at him to be quiet and said to Forman, "You saw _Planet of the Apes_ a hundred times, right?"

"A few times," Forman said. He slapped a street lamp as they passed it by. "Do you want me to assess the accuracy of Kelso's Dr. Zaius costume?"

"No. Does Snow White give Dr. Zaius a hand job in the movie?"

"Snow White? She's not in _Planet of the Apes._ " Forman slapped another street lamp.

" _That's_ what you concentrate on?" Donna said. "Eric, how about the hand job?"

"I'd love one," Forman said. "Commitment-free. But _Planet of the Apes_ isn't a Disney fairy tale. Jackie needs to know—"

Donna shoved Forman hard enough that he stumbled forward. "Quit being a dink."

"Did you hear that, Michael?" Jackie said. "Snow White isn't in _Planet of the Apes._ "

Kelso's forehead wrinkled. "Okay." He hit the street lamp ahead of Forman could. "Hah! Beat you!"

She tugged on Hyde's belt loop and stopped him from walking. With her gloved hand, she dug into his bag that contained the eggs. She yanked out an egg, flung it at Kelso, and it shattered on the nape of his neck.

"Hyde!" Kelso shouted and turned around. Forman, Donna, and Fez turned around, too, but Jackie had armed herself again. She hurled another egg at Kelso, and it smashed into his face.

"You and Snow White!" she said. "I saw you leaving your sister's closet! What happened to being faithful, Michael? What happened to honesty?"

Kelso scrubbed yoke from his eye. "Wha—? You weren't even at the party!"

"Yes, I was! The house was lit up completely red. Alice Cooper's creepy music was playing—and Huckleberry Hound and Jaws stood guard while you cheated on me!"

"No, I didn't! I thought we were on a break 'cause I annoyed you on Friday."

She flinched, and Hyde's fist tightened on his plastic bags. "So whenever you annoy me," she said, "you automatically assume we're broken up until I'm not annoyed at you anymore?"

"Well, yeah!"

"You moron!" She tossed another egg at him, but it missed and splattered on the sidewalk.

"Damn, Jackie, how was I supposed to know?"

"Oh, my God. You're always looking for some excuse to cheat on me, some loophole. But you know what?" She lifted the carton of eggs from Hyde's bag and marched to Kelso with it. "I've been looking for a way out of relationship anyway, and you gave it me … so thank you."

"Whoa," Donna whispered behind Kelso.

"Yes," Fez said. "I did not see that coming."

Kelso flicked egg white off his fingers. "Wait. Are you breaking up with me?"

"I haven't stopped being annoyed with you," Jackie said, "so by your logic, we've been broken up since Friday."

"But we're in love!" His chin quivered, like he was about to cry. "You always come back!"

"Not this time." She plucked an egg from the carton and dropped it on the sidewalk. "I'm not in love with you anymore, Michael. I thought I was..." she dropped another egg on the sidewalk, "but I was just trying to convince myself it was true."

Kelso retreated from the shattered eggs, but yoke and shell had landed on his shoes. "Jackie—" His voice cracked. "I never would've let that girl near me if I knew we weren't on a break."

"This is what you did to my heart." She cupped an egg in her gloved hand and crushed it. Yellow and white oozed between her fingers. "I thought we could repair it together, but I was wrong." She held her egg-dripping hand away from her body. "I was settling for you, for what was familiar. But you don't make me happy anymore, Michael, and I obviously don't make you happy, either."

She dumped the last few eggs onto the sidewalk, along with the carton. Her non-gloved hand approached her gloved, egg-dripping hand, but stopped short of touching it. She must've had an aversion to egg guts.

Hyde removed her egg-slathered glove and stashed it in his empty plastic bag. She'd left her other glove on Pine Street somewhere—probably wouldn't accept this glove from him, even if it were cleaned—but he was into vandalism, not littering without a cause. He picked up the egg carton, too, as she squeezed his shoulder. The contact had to be a silent thank-you, and he thrust the carton into the bag.

"No," Forman said with a ragged breath. "No!"

His screech echoed through the neighborhood. The Burkharts and their rich friends were sure to hear it, but howling was part of Halloween. They'd likely dismiss it as trick-or-treating nonsense.

"Calm down, Bugs," Donna said. She gripped Forman's gray-sleeved arm and indicated the nearest street lamp. A spider was dangling from it on a gossamer web. "It's fake … I think."

"How ironic." Fez had taken a box of Milk Duds from his pillow case and poured a few into his mouth. "You are dressed up as a character named Bugs, but you're afraid of bugs."

"Uh-uh. No. Nope." Forman moved several feet from the street lamp and gestured at Hyde. "Him, Donna. Don't you get it? Jackie's Batgirl. Jackie was at the party..." He swallowed, and his Bugs Bunny mask slipped down his arm to his wrist. "At the party, Batgirl played lapsie with the Grim Reaper. _Hyde_ went to the party dressed as the Grim Reaper, and he got lucky—" he jabbed his finger at Jackie, "with her!"

His mask clattered to the sidewalk, but he didn't pick it up. "Hyde said he wore a condom, which means they had sex … sex!"

"What?" Kelso narrowed his eyes. They were wet with tears, but he kept his distance from Jackie. "Is it true? Jackie?"

"Yes, Michael." The back of her hand skimmed the front of Hyde's. His fingers glided between hers and curled over her palm. The response was instinct. It would piss Kelso off worse, but if Jackie needed Hyde's support to get through this, she had it. "We made furious, freaky love in your living room closet—"

"It should've stayed in the closet," Forman said.

"It was the best sex I've ever had." She squeezed Hyde's fingers. "Because of you, Michael, I thought all boys were clumsy and selfish, but Steven understands—he _cares—_ how a woman's body works."

"God, make it stop!" Forman tried to plug his ears, but his candy bucket collided with his jaw. "Ow!"

"I'll make it stop!" Kelso charged at Hyde, but his foot skidded on the eggs coating the sidewalk. His leg slipped out from under him, and he crashed onto his butt. "You're dead, Hyde!" he shouted from the ground. "Dead!"

He tried to stand, but his shoes were slick with egg guts. He half-skated, half-stumbled on the pavement, and Donna helped stabilize him. He charged Hyde again, but Hyde released Jackie's hand and shoved Kelso at the street lamp. The spider dangling from it landed on Kelso's cheek. Kelso dropped his jack-o'-lantern bucket scraped at his face frantically.

"It's crawling under my eyelids!" He slapped his palm against his eye and hurtled down the sidewalk, screaming.

"Jackie," Donna said, "how could you do this to him?"

"I had nothing to do with that spider!"

"No, sleep with Hyde!"

Hyde clutched his belt buckle with his free hand. "Trust me, there was no sleepin' involved."

"Okay, Halloween has officially been ruined!" Forman said. "I'm going home."

He left in the same direction as Kelso and shrank into the darkness. Donna and Fez, however, closed in on Hyde and Jackie. Milk Duds crunched between Fez's teeth as Donna said, "Explain yourself."

"You're mad at me?" Jackie said. "Michael cheated on me first!"

"Not with your best friend!"

"So? At least I have feelings for Steven." Jackie picked up Kelso's jack-o'-lantern bucket by the street lamp. "Do you know how often I've gotten annoyed at Michael since we got back together?" She tipped the bucket's opening toward Donna's eyes. "Count the candy in here, and you'll have a pretty good guess. He must've cheated on me every few days! But he doesn't even consider it cheating because according to him 'we were on a break.'"

Donna blew out a heavy breath. "Well, this sucks. The basement's already messed up because Eric and I ended our relationship. Now you and Hyde are gonna, what, start dating now? Or is this some kind of revenge-burn thing?"

Hyde hiked his thumb at his face. "Why don't you quit givin' Jackie all the flak for this, huh? She wasn't in that closet fucking herself." He slid his arm around Jackie's waist, and the warmth of her back heated his skin through his sleeve. "And Kelso's the one who killed their relationship, man, not her. So how about shovin' a little righteous indignation his way?"

"Yeah, Donna!" Jackie edged closer to him and laid her head on his chest. The weight of her on his heart felt more than right. It felt necessary, like he'd been missing it his whole life.

Donna teased the werewolf fur on her arm. "Holy crap, you two actually care about each other. Fez," she ripped the fur off the sleeve beneath it, "why aren't you saying anything? Don't you think this is wrong?"

"So wrong," Fez said and stuck another Milk Dud into his mouth. "So very, very wrong."

Hyde suppressed a sneer. Fez was obviously turned on, but Donna's judgment had seized like an engine. Splitting with Forman, having her mom split on her—she was out of oil.

"Look," Hyde said, "whatever me and Jackie do from here on out, it's our business. If Kelso can't get over it—if you can't—that's your problem."

"So you'd be fine if I dated Fez?" Donna said.

Fez rattled his box of Milk Duds. "I love Halloween! Donna, I knew you had feelings for me." He puckered his lips by her mouth, but she blocked his advance with her ghost bucket. "So you'll dry-hump your ex-boyfriend, but you won't make-out with me?" He stuffed the rest of his Milk Duds into his mouth.

"This exactly what happened at Casey's party," he said while chewing. "A demon pushed me into a closet with a woman with tremendous breasts, but she wouldn't kiss me. She said my breath smelled too much like Doritos."

"Sorry, Fez." She sighed, and her arms fell to her sides. "The truth is..." she said to Hyde and Jackie, "I guess I'm a little jealous. If you guys are happy together, then congrats. At least someone in the basement won't be miserable this year." She gave them a giant, toothy smile, and her tone grew caustic. "See you at school!"

She headed down the block, but Hyde called after her, "Who the hell said I'm happy?"

Jackie's head rose from his chest. A chill cut into his skin at her absence, but she didn't chase Donna. She stayed put amid the mansions of her neighborhood, stayed near Hyde as Fez brought his map under the street lamp.

"The Wheelers' house is next," Fez said. "A few blocks south."

"Go for it," Hyde said, barely aware he'd spoken. His main concern was Jackie. She'd had wound her fists in her Batgirl cape. Her lips were pressed together so tightly no blood seemed to reach them. "

"But I heard from Sharon that her parents give out Sugar Babies!" Fez said.

"I'm done trick-or-treating."

"Because you want to make love to Jackie again?"

He waved in Fez's general direction. "Get outta here, man."

A _crack!_ reverberated in the air, as if Fez had snapped the paper of his map. "Fine. But if you expect me to get extra Sugar Babies for you, you're out of luck.."

Fez's footfalls echoed on the pavement and faded. Hyde glanced down the block to be sure he was really leaving. The coattails of Fez's costume flapped with each of his steps, but Hyde watched them until they vanished around a corner.

"Are we dating, Steven?" Jackie said, and color returned to lips. "Or are we just having a fling?"

He scratched his cheek. "You with me outta revenge?"

"No! How can you say that?"

"'Cause you asked me to nail you after you found Kelso with Snow White."

"Seeing him with her give me permission to go after what I want." She looked toward sky. "God, you have no idea what you do to me. I didn't either until it was too late. It was too scary and too munch for me to handle."

She wrapped herself in her cape like she was cold. The air was crisp, but no wind was blowing. "I'm not talking about some stupid, hero-worshiping crush. Steven, I know who you are. I know who I am now … and I'm serious about you. About us." She let go of the cape, and it fluttered to her hips. "If that's too scary or too much for you to handle, then we can call this off. We had one great night together. We can leave it at that, despite your promise on Saturday."

"I don't renege on my promises," he said, but how he felt for her did freak him out. The people he loved tended to leave, and she was no exception. She'd dropped him before. "And I do wanna be with you..." he gripped her waist and drew her closer, "for more than just a fling."

She pulled his shades off him and hooked them onto her utility belt. "How do you feel about me?"

He studied her face. Light from the surrounding houses and street lamps highlighted the flush in her cheeks. "Do I gotta put a name to it?"

"Do you _have_ a name for it?"

"Jackie—let's not fuck this up by talking."

Her fingers laced over the nape of his neck. "Do you trust me?"

"Don't trust anyone."

"Because you grew up poor with alcoholic parents who abandoned you. I understand." Her thumbs caressed his earlobes. The sensation was weird but not unpleasant. "I'm going to be your first real girlfriend."

"Again with the titles."

"I'm going to be your _girlfriend_ , Steven, whether you call me that or not. And I'm going to be faithful to you, whether you trust that or not. But you … you have to promise you'll never cheat. Just dump me if you want to sleep with other girls. Respect me enough to do that."

His pulse revved up, and sweat began to form under his arms and at his hairline. She was damn ballsy.. He'd never gotten close enough to girl, or let a girl get close enough to him, to have this kind of conversation. But it needed to be had.

He cleared his throat. It was hurting again, burning, with how tight it had become. "Long as we're together, my dick's yours."

Her fingers vanished from his neck, and she smacked his chest. "I need more than that."

"I'm..." He swallowed, but the burning in his throat remained. He'd wanted her to be his girl for so long. Now that it was going to happen, his past experiences flooded his mind and body, making him shake a little. "I don't know how to do this."

"That's okay, Steven. I do." Her palms cradled his cheeks. Her fingers rested below his ears, and she pecked his lips. He kissed her back, offering all he had, and she opened her mouth wider to accept it. Her warmth saturated his senses, and the intimacy of her touches relaxed his mind and throat. He wouldn't be alone in this relationship. She'd be with him at every intersection, at every traffic light no matter whether it said go or stop.

"I promise I won't cheat on you. Don't want anyone the fuck else..."

Her breath heated his ear. "For how long?"

"Long." He leaned his forehead into her temple. His past had fractured his hopes for the future. Losing her would collapse his ribs and bury what he had left of a heart. "But I'll split if you've got any doubts about cuttin' Kelso loose."

"What I doubted was being with him … mostly because of how I feel for you." She cupped his chin and raised his gaze to her eyes. "Tell me you understand that, that you believe it."

He opened his mouth to speak, but unfamiliar cackling rose into the night sky. A group of trick-or-treaters was rounding the corner. Stragglers.

"I get it," he said quickly and grasped her hand. "And I believe you." He did, and that would be his default policy unless she gave him a reason to change it.

"Thank God." She jerked his hand in the direction of her house. "My parents won't be home until after midnight. They're at a Halloween party thrown by my dad's business associates. Yes, they have to work tomorrow. No, they don't care. They're rich, and their assistants will do most of it."

She pulled him up the sidewalk, away from the noisy trick-or-treaters. "Did you bring condoms with you?" she said.

"Uh..."

"Never mind. I have some. Michael never did, so I had to stock up."

She yanked him into a run, and he laughed quietly. "Someone's impatient."

"Impatient? Steven, I waited seven months to make love to you. I've had to wait almost three days to do it again. But tonight we're not rushing. You won't have to do all the work, either."

"Didn't the first time." But the prospect of seeing her naked, of discovering the places she enjoyed being touched, of going slow before going fast, swelled more than his dick. He was feeling too much too fast, and he stopped her from running. "Hop on," he said, crouching down.

Her arms looped around his shoulders. Her ankles locked over his stomach, and he carried her piggy-back style. His bag of candy struck his thigh repeatedly, but the closeness of their bodies eased some of the pressure in his chest. He was ready to try this happiness crap people were always on about, despite the risks, and as they neared the Burkhart Mansion, he said, "Scenic route all the way, baby."

She giggled and nuzzled his sideburn with her nose. "For both us."


End file.
